Page 105 of The Eighth Isle

“It is,” I confirmed.

“Did you see the body with your own eyes?”

If she only knew… “There was no body. She turned to ashes.”

Mama Si smiled. “Well then, this is agloriousday for the Seven Isles, doll.”

Laughter burst out of me. “Believe me, Mama Si, it isn’t. Worse monsters than Syra are still on the loose.” The monsters that started it all.

“Yes, yes—but they’re not nearly as powerful as she was,” Mama Si said with a wave of her hand. “Even so, Fall Doll, I hope you understand that when they come for you, I will have no choice but to give you up.”

My stomach twisted and turned. “I understand.”

“And I will also tell them that I was forced by the Evernights to keep you hidden. It’s the only way they’ll let me live,” she said.

“You can do whatever you want, Mama Si,” I said through gritted teeth, mad at myself and at her, but mostly at the sirens. “I’ll be leaving the Burrow as soon as I can, anyway. You might not have to lie at all on my account.”

As soon as I spoke to Grey and Valentine, we’d come up with a plan. We’d figure out a way to hide from the sirens forever. The world was vast, the possibilities endless.

But…

Words Valentine said just now came back to me in a rush. Was that really the life I wanted to live for the rest of my days? Running and hiding from sirens who would probably stop at nothing to get to me?

Was that really the right thing to do?

“Don’t rush, Fall Doll. There’s no telling what’s ahead of us now. They’re not here yet, and maybe they’ll take a day to find you,” she said. “Congratulations on your baby, by the way.”

It was like she’d fucking ripped my soul right out of me.

Nobody had said that to me yet. Nobody had congratulated me about my baby.

My hands closed over my stomach instinctively, even though I still couldn’t tell a single difference.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and I thought,no.No—I didn’t want to live the rest of my days running and hiding from sirens, especially if I was going to have a baby soon. No way in any hell.

But then Mama Si said, “It shouldn’t be long now. It’s already been over two weeks.”

Surprised, I turned to her. “What?”

“The end of the world, dear. The one the stars told us about.”

If she’d have slapped me, it would have shocked me less.

Mama Si must have recognized the look on my face. “Don’t tell me you forgot about it.”

“I didn’t forget,” I whispered—and I hadn’t. I hadn’t forgotten at all. I’d been into the Nella Lexis myself—I’d seen the stars.

“I wonder how it will happen now, though,” Mama Si continued. “I was so sure it would be Syra to bring it about.” She turned to me. “I thought for sure it would be the same as it had been then, but now…now I think it’sthem.They will be the ones to do it.”

“The sirens.” My own voice sounded strange to my ears, and I kept shaking my head. “But…but what if it isn’t true? What if the stars are wrong?”

This time, she was the one laughing bitterly. “Don’t be silly, Fall Doll. The stars are neverwrong.”

I looked out at the ocean and the sky as the sun continued to set, but I didn’t really see anything. In my mind, Syra’s face was everywhere, blood dripping out of her mouth. In my mind, the stars spoke to me, whispered like the trees in the Woods used to do—mocked me.

You thought you were saved from Syra? You thought it was over?

You thought you were free?!

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